> DP:LOT - "An ancient fortress that never became a proper city."
> Whitewall sits on a high plateau of white stone, from which its
> walls were carved. Its the ancient seat of the Hendreiki kings,
> but they moved away because it was so difficult to access. It
> became a centre of resistence against the Pharaoh. The Volsaxi
> kings lived there. Broyan made it even more daunting during the
> recent civil wars.
Me on another thread:
And I think Whitewall is not seen as that practical for living in
(hence the comments about it never becoming the city its founders
dreamed of in DP:LoT). It's value is as a fortress and a symbol -
this makes Hargrand move his seat there. It is a place to live in
time of conflict (thereby having a Helm's Deep role).
The Helm's Deep motif works in part for me. Whitewall was not a city, but a fortress. it's near continuous occupation since Hargrand moved the seat there is due to the conflict since the civil war. There is probably better living space due to improvements by Tarkalor who perhaps wanted a permanent outpost against the Kitori, but I see it as a citadel designed for defending not living. Think cyclopean stone walls, huge battlements, concentric walls offering successive lines of resistance divided by immense gatehouses. The quarrying of rock to build the fortress will have left huge cisterns that can be filled with water (as at Masada), assailing the walls atop the plateau will require going up the sides of the plateau (think the snake path at Masada for those of you who have been there). That explains aerial assault by the bat or the giant ramps (you can still see the one at Masada, its impressive, the Romans built a small hill to climb up).
One feature of Masada I always felt would work well for a fantasy fortress is the Herod's 'hanging villa' built on the northern tip on three terraces that Josephus said seemed from below to hang in the air.
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